US cellular operators add more cars than phones

For the first time ever American mobile operators have added more connected cars than phone subscribers over the course of a full year.

Mobile World Live quotes Chetan Sharma Consulting research which stated connected vehicles surpassed phones as the largest net addition category in 2017.

It says that, while it did not break out numbers for each segment, financial records indicate AT&T lost 205,000 post paid subscribers for the full year, Verizon added 774,000, T-Mobile US 2.82 million and Sprint 593,000.

Although the operators didn’t reveal their connected car net additions, Chetan Sharma Consulting said AT&T continued to dominate the segment, hitting 11 straight quarters of one million or more connected car net additions by the close of the year. The figure would mean the operator alone added at least four million connected cars in 2017.

The report also says that the research company noted Verizon also made strides in the IoT and telematics space in 2017 and is on pace to generate $1 billion in business in the segment this year.

Chetan Sharma Consulting said the rise of low-revenue IoT devices is putting additional pressure on ARPU, but reported competitive intensity continues to be the primary cause of ARPU declines.